In Effort To Save Saudi Arabia From The Houthis, Has The U.S. Created Another Gulf Of Tonkin?

No longer content to lead from behind with the occasional drone bomb, the United States has now resorted to launching missiles from battleships off the Yemeni coast into the embattled nation. Having launched attacks at several Houthi “command and control” centers allegedly housing radar, the U.S. is once again only entrenching its position as a great force for evil and destruction the world over.

Per the usual, the U.S. justification for the attack is questionable at best, and, in the end, an example of just how arrogant and aggressive U.S. foreign policy is toward the rest of the world and, in particular, those nations and forces who do not capitulate to U.S. interests.

According to mainstream press reports and the U.S. government itself, the United States responded to alleged missiles being fired from Houthi-occupied territory at the U.S. battleship U.S.S. Mason. After four alleged missiles being fired in two alleged separate incidents, the U.S. ship, which was operating off the coast of Yemen, fired missiles at the Houthi radar locations.

The Western press has, of course, responded in a predictable fashion by rushing to point out that the U.S. position was entirely justified and was nothing more than retaliation at unprovoked threats produced by the “Iranian proxies” fighting against the democratic kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s invasion of Yemeni territory.

“For the United States, it was simple retaliation: Rebels in Yemen had fired missiles at an American warship twice in four days, and so the United States hit back, destroying rebel radar facilities with missiles,” reads a report in the New York Times. But the framing of the incident assumes that the Houthis actually fired the missiles and that the U.S. merely acted in self-defense and retaliation. It also assumes that the U.S. was justified for having its ships off the coast of Yemen to begin with.

For their part, the Houthi forces have denied firing any missiles at U.S. ships.

Interestingly enough, the United States itself admits that the Houthis may not have fired the missiles. In fact, they admit that they do not even know for sure who fired the missiles. Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook actually stated “We don’t know who was pulling the trigger specifically,” stopping short of actually blaming the Houthis for the record. But nevertheless, the U.S. “retaliated” against them.

Take a look at the logic being presented by the Pentagon here. “Missiles were fired presumably at our ship. We do not know who fired them. Therefore, we attacked the Houthis.” Is it now considered prudent military and international policy to bomb forces for an act no one is actually sure they committed?

With all this in mind and given the track record of the United States government ginning up “attacks” in order to justify foreign military adventures, it would be wise to question the nature and even the existence of the “missile attacks” to begin with, not only who actually fired the missiles. Indeed, it was in 1964 that the U.S. government claimed North Vietnamese forces fired torpedoes and machine guns at the U.S.S. Maddox which subsequently resulted in large scale involvement of the United States in Vietnam. Decades later, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident has largely been proven as nothing more than a fabrication of the U.S. government in order to justify war in Vietnam.

“For the United States to employ direct military force against an albeit conflict-embroiled sovereign nation over an incident still under investigation and as-yet unproven indisputable fact, is reminiscent of the vehicle it undertook to embroil itself in the Vietnam War — the Gulf of Tonkin incident,” writes Claire Bernish.

“However, in this case,” she continues, “the move could prove an arrogant flub of enormous proportions. Yemen, itself, is not of imperative importance to the U.S. except outside the waters off its coast — however, as a proxy ally of Russia its regional consequence matters a great deal.”

It is also important to consider the timing of the alleged attack. The United States has acted in direct support of Saudi Arabia’s heinous crimes in Yemen from the beginning by “leading from behind” through providing intelligence, strategic advice, refueling, and other logistical assistance. While the U.S. whines incessantly about “barrel bombs” being dropped on terrorists, Saudi Arabia is intentionally dropping bombs on civilians all over Yemen yet not one word has been uttered in condemnation by the U.S.

Still, after the Saudis bombed a Yemeni funeral, killing at least 100 people, even some mainstream press organizations (mostly due to the fact that the independent press has revealed the nature of the Saudi mission in Yemen) were no longer able to hide the Saudi crimes against humanity. As a result, even the United Nations which had been paid by the Saudis to keep silent on previous Saudi war crimes was forced to issue a statement of condemnation.

Amidst the discussion of the Saudi crimes, the U.S. support for Saudi actions has become an issue that is no longer so easily ignored by Washington with many “human rights organizations” and national governments criticizing the Obama administration for its cooperation and assistance in slaughtering the Yemeni people.

Thus, just as the United States’ complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity begins to gather attention on the global stage, the Houthis inexplicably launch missiles at a U.S. warship.

You might consider it strange that the Houthis, who have not fired on American ships ever before in the nearly 2 years of warfare in Yemen, suddenly decided – just as American support for Saudi Arabia was in question – to launch missiles at an American destroyer.

You might be asking yourself, “Why would the Houthis, who struggle to get any coverage in the Western press at all, let alone sympathetic coverage, launch an attack on America?”

You might consider it strange that the Houthis, already fighting a losing battle against a richer and better equipped enemy, might try and drag America into the war.

It’s not strange. Not in the least. It fits so well with the history of American military entanglements that one might even call it predictable, at this point.

The United States is standing on the precipice of yet another direct military invasion of yet another sovereign country that will surely end in a quagmire. We strongly urge the U.S. government to abandon its meddling in Yemen. At the very least, we invite those members of the “Saudi-led coalition” to remember that Yemen has been a quagmire for every empire that has tried to conquer it.

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